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The story behind the Boeing Superfortress
Remember back to January, 1940?
The war in Europe was not yet
five months old and war with
Japan still two years away, but
the U. S. Army Air Forces even
then demanded an airplane that
would carry a heavier bomb load
farther, faster and higher than
any the world had ever known.
Leading aircraft companies
were invited to submit designs.
In February, thirty days before
Hitler invaded the Low Countries,
the Army radically increased its
specifications. Those new require
ments made the. design problems
still more difficult. But Boeing
with its unequaled background of
4-engine experience in building
DESIGNERS OF THE FLYINGFORTRESS * THE NEW
such planes as the Flying Fortress,
the Stratoliner and transocean
Clippers-was in the best position
to solve them.
Wind tunnel tests of the Boeing
model so impressed the Army that
Boeing was authorized to build
three experimental airplanes. And
then - even before the first of
these had been completed and
flight tested - the Air Forces de
cided that this was the world's
number one bomber! Quantity
production was ordered - one of
the greatest manufacturing pro
grams ever put behind any weap
on of war. This program eventu
ally included the Bell and Martin
plants as well as three Boeing
plants, and literally hundreds of
sub-contractors.
This placed a tremendous re
sponsibility upon Boeing, not only
in engineering the design but also
getting it into production.
So sound was the basic design
that not one major change had to
be made when flight tests began.
And approximately a year and a
half later the first production
models were bombing Japan.
Superfortresses are' taking their
place along with the famous Fly
ing Fortressesin Boeing's effort to
provide the Army's great bombing
crews with the best possible air
planes to accomplish their hazard
ous and important missions.
B-29 SUPERFORTRESS * THESTRATOLINER* TRANSOCEANCLIPPERS B O EIC N G